Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Friday, November 26, 2021

DVD Review: Dracula Season One

 


Dracula was a show that aired on NBC (which ultimately led to its downfall) in 2013 and starred Johnathan Rhys Meyers as Dracula. The premise is that Dracula comes to London posing as an American Industrialist named Alexander Grayson to bring wireless electricity to the world. In reality, he is trying to bring down a group called The Order of the Dragon that cursed him with immortality and killed his wife. He is aided by Abraham Van Helsing whose family was also killed by the Order. While in London, Grayson falls in love with a woman named Mina Murry (played by Jessica De. Gouw whom most people will probably recognize from her appearances on the series Arrow), who also looks like his late wife. She is betrothed to Jonathan Harker, who is a journalist that Dracula employs to aid in his scheme to bring down the Order.  

The show only got a limited run of 13 episodes. It was hardly enough time to set everything up and really get people invested in the show. It is one of those shows that would have been a lot better off on the CW network and could have easily had a 5+ season run had it not had to pull major network level ratings. Much like the show Constantine, which was on NBC right around the same time, the dark nature of the show (as well as the sex) probably turned a lot of people off, and hence, the show did not get great ratings and was canceled midway through the first season. 

For those who get the DVD set, there are some extras, including deleted scenes, a couple of making-of and behind-the-scenes features, an animated series that shows some of what led up to what airs in the series, and Van Helsing's lost tapes which shows him conducting experiments on vampires. 

Overall, the show is very good, and most definitely deserved a longer run. The end of the season left a lot on the table (it does seem like the final episode was reworked a bit so the showrunners may have known ahead of time that the show was canceled) and had set the show to go in a potentially different direction. And, for fans of hers, it seems that Katie McGrath's character would have been expanded had the show continued. So, even if you like the show, it will leave you feeling incomplete because not everything is resolved by the end of the season. I do, however, think it is worth watching even if you will feel a bit cheated by not seeing a clear end to the storylines. 

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